We’re progressing to the final full chapter of Stoic Serenity: “Impermanence, Loss, and Death.” Interestingly, author Keith Seddon starts this one out with a Bible verse:

“Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.
Remind me that my days are numbered—
how fleeting my life is.

You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand.
My entire lifetime is just a moment to you;
at best, each of us is but a breath.

We are merely moving shadows,
and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.
We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it.”

(Psalm 39:4-6, New Living Translation)

What do you think? Is eudaimonia and peace of mind even attainable? Can it be achieved, or are we simply enamored with an idea? Maybe the human mind is not capable of all this we’ve been studying—maybe we’re chasing after phantoms. After all, everything in the universe is transitory.

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Well hello again. I’m going through a rough patch right now, which motivated me to re-read through the Stoic Serenity lessons here on the blog, which in turn motivated me to continue with the chapters in the book. So a year later, I’m picking up exactly where I left off: Cicero’s second thought experiment: Read more of this post

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Here’s the deal: if you’ve read any handful of posts on this blog, you know that Seneca is my favorite of the three most famous Stoics. I enjoy his letters so much that I splurged and bought the newly-released Letters on Ethics published by Cambridge University Press (after waiting for it for a year!). I’ve been enjoying the introductory material and reading a letter each evening or so, when I decided I wanted to have Seneca’s letters on audio recording. Yes, these can sometimes be found on Youtube or on other websites, but sometimes the older translations can use an interesting vocabulary, which was a hindrance several weeks ago when my boyfriend (whose native language is not English) and I wanted to listen to Seneca during a road trip. So I wanted to listen to Seneca’s words in simple clarity, to free the mind from the tangles of vocabulary and syntax, and enable the mind to delve deep and explore the actual content.

So after reading both older translations of Letters from a Stoic and the 2015 Letters on Ethics, I have produced an audio recording that is similar to the way I include Seneca’s letters in my blog posts. Some words are changed, some parts may be slightly paraphrased, all is done in effort to convey the original meaning and to ease understanding.

Check back for updates. New audio recordings will be added to this page, but no email/blog updates will be sent, if you’ve subscribed.

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Stoic Week 2015 centered on Marcus Aurelius and opened with the same theme shared in the first few pages of Meditations: role models.

I’ve never been one to consciously consider my own role models, although I know I have them. I suppose my pessimistic nature is more inclined to make a list of people from whom I’ve learned how not to act. Nevertheless, here is my own list of role models. I’ve tried to keep the attributes related to Stoicism. Here goes: Read more of this post

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Resilience and Preparation for Adversity

Wow, it’s hard to believe it’s already Day 6. Stoic Week has been significantly more successful for me than last year. Last year, Stoic Week was held the same week as American Thanksgiving. My family traveled over 1500 miles to see me, and although I tried making an effort to take my bite of philosophy each day, it simply wasn’t working. Not to mention I also had to bear witness at a court trial, and had something very painful and unexpected happen that week. Here we are a year later. My own life is looking up compared to where I was a year ago. It has taken lots of courage and support, but quite seriously, Stoic philosophy has made a significant impact.

A year ago, I was submerged in depression. I had lost my job, and was in a really difficult point in my relationship with my Signifiant Other. You can read my “About Me” stuff for more details. But the truth is, I couldn’t get out of bed. If you’ve never experienced depression, I’m not referring to a “I’m sad and don’t feel like getting out of my bed and facing the world” type of attitude. I mean, quite physically, I could not get out of bed. In fact, it was difficult enough for me to even wake up. I would struggle to open my eyes in the morning and quickly drift off again, continuing until 3:00pm. Not. Normal. If I did finally manage to wake up and get out of bed, I was quickly drained of energy and would collapse on the couch in the living room.

I stopped eating. If I ate, it was one biscuit each day. Like I said, in summary, I was enveloped by depression. But Stoicism is largely responsible for pulling me out of that place. Stoic philosophy spoke to my character. You might be depressed, Kirsten, but at the heart of everything, you truly do want to be a good person. Stoic texts encouraged me, inspired me, gave me ground to stand on. Stoicism isn’t a magic philosophy that will fix the problems in your life. Those same problems will still be there. In fact, Stoicism won’t fix a damn thing outside of yourself. It won’t always bring you the news you were hoping for, and it won’t be easy. But Stoicism will bring you to reality, and it will give you the tools to deal with reality. Stoicism is a philosophy of empowerment.

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My apologies for the delay in yesterday’s post. Publishing a day late in a course that is time-sensitive and covers a topic each day and an entire philosophy in a week isn’t exactly ideal. It’s not that I forgot about the blog, or got lazy, or anything like that. All week I’ve been fighting a cold, and yesterday evening when I came home from work, I was just too congested and too sick to concentrate. So I loaded myself up with various medicines from yesterday’s doctor visit (indeed, it went well with Thursday’s theme, but that’s another story), and I forced myself to wait for sleep. Without further ado, I finally present to you…

“The Post that Should Have Been Published Yesterday”

Or rather…

Relationships with Other People and Society

Morning Reflection

Say to yourself first thing in the morning: I shall meet with people who are meddling, ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, and unsociable. They are subject to these faults because of their ignorance of what is good and bad. But I have recognized the nature of the good and seen that it is right, and the nature of the bad and seen that it is wrong, and the nature of the wrongdoer himself, and seen that he is related to me, not because he has the same blood or seed, but because he shares in the same mind and portion of divinity. So I cannot be harmed by any of them, as no one will involve me in what is wrong. Nor can I be angry with my relative or hate him. We were born for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of upper and lower teeth. So to work against each other is contrary to nature; and resentment and rejection count as working against someone.

(Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 2.1)

Those are some powerful words, Marcus. He certainly calls it like it is. I actually had to open up this quote on Monday and read it to give me some strength to face the day. I think I will print this quote and keep it somewhere hidden at my desk for only myself to read. I work with people who are living in poverty. Working with some of the people can be really difficult. Someone who lives in poverty thinks differently than someone who does not face poverty on a daily basis. Poverty can direct a person’s way of thinking from being future-oriented, or planning, to being focused only on immediate concerns or needs. Read more of this post

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Morning Reflection:

If you ever find anything better in life than justice, truthfulness, self-control, and courage…by all means, turn it it with all your heart and enjoy the supreme good that you have found… But if you find everything that, compared to Virtue, proves to be trivial and valueless, then give no room to it, because once you turn towards that and divert from your proper path, you will no longer be able to give the highest honor to that which is properly good without experiencing inner conflict. It’s not right to set up any rival to Virtue, such as popularity, powerful office, wealth, or enjoyment of pleasures.

(Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 3.6)

I listened to the Morning Meditation Audio again this morning. Here are some of my favorite bits from it: Read more of this post

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Stoic Mindfulness and Examining your Impressions

Morning Reflection:

People look for retreats for themselves, in the country, by the coast, or in the hills… And you too are especially inclined to feel this desire. But this is altogether unphilosophical, when it is possible for you to retreat into yourself at any time you wish. Nowhere can a person find a more peaceful and trouble-free retreat than in his own mind; especially if he has within himself the kind of thoughts that let him dip into them and so at once gain complete ease of mind—and by ease of mind, I mean nothing but having one’s own mind in good order. Therefore, constantly give yourself this retreat and renew yourself. You should have concise and fundamental principles at hand. These will be enough, as soon as you encounter disturbances, to cleanse you from all distress and send you back without resentment at the activities to which you return.

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What is in our Control and Wishing with Reservation

Morning Reflection:

Early in the morning, when you are finding it hard to wake up, hold this thought in your mind: “I am getting up to do the work of a human being. Do I still resent waking up, if I am going out to do the work which I was born for and for which I was brought into the world? Or was I designed for this, to lie under the blanket and keep myself warm?” “But this is more pleasant.” So were you born for pleasure? In general, were you born for feeling or affection? Don’t you see the plants, the little sparrows, the ants, the spiders, the bees, all doing their own work and playing their part in making up an ordered world? And yet you are unwilling to do the work of a human being? Won’t you race to do what is in line with your nature?